The Institute for Systems Biology’s Commitment to Education

The Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) is a unique and pioneering research institution. As the name suggests, systems biology is the study of biological systems as a whole. Instead of analyzing individual components of a system – genes or proteins – systems biology analyzes an entire system such as the immune response by tracking connections between genes, proteins, and a system's behavior. Systems Biology will have a profound effect on the practice of medicine, making it possible not just to react to a disease that is already present but also to predict and even prevent its onset.

ISB is also unique and progressive in its institution-wide commitment to education. While a select number of research institutions have an education or outreach component as part of their mission, such programs typically serve as a means for showcasing the particular research of the organization. Such efforts may contribute to the public's understanding and appreciation of science, they are limited in their impact of science education reform. The vision of ISB, however, is to support science education as a whole – across grade levels and across content areas – based on best practices as identified through educational research. ISB believes all students should have access to inquiry science experiences, to ensure that we not only encourage future scientists and engineers, but also develop a scientifically literate society.

What Mandates this Commitment

Jobs requiring science, engineering, and technical skills and training continue to increase in numbers. Moreover, a growing number of these jobs are requiring interdisciplinary collaboration, which in turn requires a workforce with an integrated knowledge of science and skill in applying knowledge to real world problems. The underlying consequence of this transformation is that if the US is to remain competitive internationally, future generations must know more science.

While student achievement in mathematics and science has a respectable 'start' at the elementary level, it plummets by high school – this can be depicted by the number of students who achieve a 'proficient' level of achievement on high stakes achievement tests as well as international comparisons. Additionally, there is a substantial and growing achievement gap for underrepresented minority students – this is particularly concerning as these populations grow and become a majority of the US demographics. Finally, lower numbers of students are choosing to study science and technology/engineering at the postsecondary level. A high number of those that do pursue these disciplines actually drop out during undergraduate study. Most alarming, at the graduate level of study, a significant number of math, science and engineering degree programs, the majority of students are not US citizens.

Achieving the Commitment

In the early and mid-1990s, Leroy Hood, then Chair of the University of Washington Department of Molecular Biotechnology (MBT) and current president of ISB, and his wife Valerie Logan, spearheaded a vision for science education reform in Seattle. MBT, together with five regional school districts, applied for and received two National Science Foundation grants to support inquiry-centered science training for elementary and middle school classroom teachers. Districts adopted highly optimized inquiry-centered science instructional materials (research-based science curriculum), and lead teachers within the district were trained in how to teach these materials and they in-turn trained their colleagues. At the conclusion of these grants, the program serviced more than 14,500 local teachers, and 34,000 students. These programs, as well as those of similar purpose and scope across the nation, have shown that inquiry science (materials and instruction) does promote student achievement in science. Today, CIS works with school districts across the Puget Sound region in implementing system-wide inquiry-centered science education programs. To learn more about the history of CIS, please visit History and Accomplishments; to learn more about current CIS programming, please visit Featured Projects and Course Catalog.

Congratulations to the Institute for Systems Biology´s President, Lee Hood, and the Center for Inquiry Science´s Community Liaison, Valerie Logan for winning Washington State´s inaugural Science Education Advocate award. Please visit the Washington State LASER website to learn more about their award , and click here to read a congratulatory letter from Governor Gregoire.